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About Eknath Easwaran

Eknath Easwaran (1910–1999) is the originator of passage meditation and the author of 40 books on spiritual living.

Easwaran (pronounced Ish-war-an)
is his given name; Eknath is the name of his ancestral family.

Born in Kerala, India, Easwaran was a professor of English literature at a leading
Indian university when he came to the United States in 1959 on the
Fulbright exchange program. A gifted teacher, he moved from education for
degrees to education for living, and gave talks on meditation and spiritual
living for 40 years. His
meditation class at UC Berkeley in 1968 was the first accredited course on
meditation at any major university.

In 1961 he
founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, a nonprofit organization that publishes
his books, videos, and audio talks, and offers retreats and online programs.

Easwaran
lived what he taught, giving him lasting appeal as a spiritual teacher and
author of deep insight and warmth.

Discovering Meditation

Easwaran discovered
meditation mid-life, while he was teaching on a college campus in central
India. In the midst of a successful career he found himself haunted by age-old
questions: Why am I here? What is life
for? What will happen when I die?

Meanwhile in a few short months he lost two people
passionately dear to him: Mahatma Gandhi, whom he’d visited in his ashram, and his
beloved grandmother, who was his spiritual teacher. Finally he came home one
day to find his dog had been killed by a passing truck, and his sense of loss
would not subside. His dog stood for death itself, for all who had passed away.

“Almost instinctively,” Easwaran said, “I went to my room
and picked up my Gita, most of which I knew by heart. I closed my eyes, and as
I began to repeat the verses silently to myself, the words opened up and took
me deep, deep in.”

Over the next weeks
he continued in the same way, seated in silence in the early morning. His
meditation practice had begun.

Still leading a full life at the university, Easwaran looked
for guidance in this new inner world. He read the Upanishads, Patanjali, the
Catholic mystics, the Buddhist scriptures, the poetry of the Sufis. In addition
to his Bhagavad Gita, he found passages for meditation from every major
spiritual tradition. Some of the mystics he studied had chosen not to retire
into monasteries but, like himself, to seek the spiritual path in the midst of
everyday life.

In meditation, he found a deep connection between the wisdom
in the passages and the way he conducted himself throughout the day. It was a
thrilling discovery. “The passages were lifelines, guiding me to the source of
wisdom deep within and then guiding me back into daily life.”

Years passed, and Easwaran’s inner and outer life became
richer and more challenging as his meditation deepened.

In 1959 he came to the US on the Fulbright scholarship and lectured
widely on the spiritual heritage of India. Some students were eager to learn
about meditation, and Easwaran loved teaching. He developed a simple, effective
eight-point program of passage meditation based on his own spiritual experience.
Thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds now follow this program all
around the world.

Easwaran as a
Teacher

In the
introduction to one of his key books, Easwaran described his approach as
a teacher. He appealed to people, he said, “partly because I have not retired
from the world – I live very much as a family man, a good husband, son, and
friend – but also because I have tried to combine the best of West and East.

“I live
together with forty friends at our ashram, or spiritual community, and though I
have heavy responsibilities in guiding our work, I take time for recreation. I
go with friends to the theater; I am fond of Western and Indian classical
music; I like to take the children to the ice cream parlor and the dogs to the
beach for a run.

“But
perhaps what appeals most deeply is that I understand the difficulties of
living in the modern world. Before taking to meditation, in my ignorance of the
unity of life, I too committed most of the mistakes that even sensitive people
commit today. As a result, I understand how easy it is to make those mistakes,
and I know how to guide and support those who are trying to learn a wiser way
of living.”

Easwaran Now

Since Easwaran’s
passing in 1999, interest in his work has only increased. People choose to
relate to him today in various ways: as an authority on world mysticism; as a
wise spiritual writer; as an experienced teacher of meditation; and as a
personal spiritual guide.

Easwaran is
a recognized authority on the Indian spiritual classics. His translations of
the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Dhammapada are the best-selling editions
in the USA. Over 1.5 million of his books on spiritual living and world
mysticism are in print.

The
meditation programs that Easwaran created for every stage of life are reaching
growing audiences in person and online. He left a vast legacy of video and
audio talks which will be shared increasingly over the next years through our
website, programs, publications, and digital library.

For those
who seek him as a personal spiritual guide, Easwaran assured us that he lives
on through his eight-point program.

“I am with you always”, he said. “It does not require my physical presence; it requires your open heart.”